


Here I Am

by captainamergirl



Category: Passions (TV)
Genre: Ensemble Cast, F/M, Gen, New Setting, Post-Series fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-15 16:55:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14794383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Passions continues... at first, in a whole new setting!





	1. Episode 1

**Author's Note:**

> There are some original characters in this. You'll meet them soon. I hope you enjoy this!

**Episode 1**  
  
_Somewhere in New Mexico_  
  
"Hey little Royce, smile for mommy, smile for the camera," she cooed in a happy, singsong voice. "Come on. Give me a big smile."  
  
The little boy peered up at his mother with blue eyes that were a stark contrast to her light brown ones and burst into tears. She grimaced and stuffing the digital camera into her purse, dropped down onto the bench and lifted the tiny infant out of his car seat. Within mere moments of picking him up and beginning to rock him, he had stopped crying. She smiled.  
  
"Ah, that's all you wanted. Just a little love, huh?" She cooed. She had never pictured herself as the type to go completely gaga over a little baby but then every chance she had had to be near one, they were ripped away from her in the cruelest way possible. This time she was determined to hold onto her little boy. It had taken surgery after surgery for her to finally be able to bring this beautiful child into the world and she wouldn't let go of him for the world. She had failed her other babies - God knows she had - but not Royce. Never Royce. He was all hers, always. She would protect him and raise him right. She would be the kind of mother she had grown up secretly wishing for. She already was doing a great job, so her coworkers at the PR Company told her anyway, but she of course doubted it sometimes. What woman didn't - especially one who had a track record like hers?  
  
But she tried not to think of the past because for the first time in her life, Gwen Hotchkiss was genuinely happy.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
"Miles, it's time to get up," she said, walking into her son's room in the little apartment they were renting. _For now._ She knew they could never stay in one place for very long. It just wasn't safe. Though it also wasn't fair to her son that they had to keep moving around again and again but what could she do? She had made some very bad decisions and now her son was paying the price for them.  
  
Miles stretched and yawned under his duvet but didn't make a move to climb out of bed. "Miles," she said again. "Come on. I will make you your favorite pancakes if you get up now."  
  
Miles shot up in bed and smiled at his mother with the same smile that his father used to flash at her, the same one that made her heart tug. But she was thankful that Miles was so different than Chad, so very different. He showed no signs, even latent ones at this point, of being anything like Chad. _Thank god._ But more and more these days, he was asking about his biological father and she kept dancing around the subject. Weren't their lives complicated enough right now without bringing up the painful past?  
  
"Really? You're going to make your famous pecan pancakes? With chocolate chips and whipped cream too?"  
  
"Are there any other kind?" She asked with a smile as he hugged her and jumped out of bed, padding down the hall in his sock-covered feet to their little kitchenette.  
  
Whitney sighed as she made his bed - of course, he wouldn't do it - and then walked down the hall too.  
  
She went into the kitchenette to find him already at the table, pouring two glasses of orange juice.  
  
"Is one of those for me?" She asked with a little smile.  
  
"Yep," Miles said agreeably. "I couldn't forget you, Mommy."  
  
Whitney smiled, thinking deep inside of herself that everyone else seemed to have done just that.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
She led the novices in morning prayer and then made the sign of the cross, before turning to worship the view of the beloved Virgin. The statue was small, plain and humble, just like She must have been in life. The Mother Superior aspired to be like that. She wanted to be humble and thankful for everything she had. But lately, she had been itching almost at the cloyingness of her higher calling.  
  
She sighed and turned around to dismiss the sisters to do their morning rituals. She had taken it upon herself to administer to the sick and needy today. It was better than being stuck in the offices, looking over the books, wincing in pain as she looked over their pathetic budget. They could do little to help their community and even here in the United States, there were those who needed help so desperately.  
  
Still, she would be lying if she couldn't admit to herself that she didn't long for more. People brought in their babies to be baptized all of the time and she felt a maternal longing knowing she would never have a child of her own. She saw happy families gathered around the small infants and knew she wouldn't have a family ever. Of course, she had the sisterhood, but it could be a lonely calling.  
  
She walked to the back of the row of pews in the small chapel and sat down in one, beginning to pray for a miracle or some sign that she was really meant to be here, to stay here, to grow old in this life.  
  
Just then, she heard loud shouting outside the door and then the double doors were thrown back and a young man of about her age was darting inside. _"Hide me!"_ he said desperately.  
  
He looked oddly familiar but Charity couldn't place him at the moment. "Hide you? What - why?" She asked in alarm.  
  
"There are some very angry men after me and - Never mind," he said. "Just - just tell me where I can hide out till they're gone."


	2. Episode 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features a lot of Charity. Charity with a spine! Something she was lacking in the show. I kind of enjoyed writing this episode. Hope you enjoy reading it.

**Episode 2**  
  
"Hide me!" the young man said again.  
  
Charity didn't move for a moment. "What - what's wrong?" She finally managed to ask.  
  
The young man sighed. "You know what? You ask far, far too many questions when I'm about to die here!"  
  
Just then the doors to the chapel flew open and three very big and angry looking men filed inside. Charity knew instinctively two things then: One, that these men were after the young man who had come in seeking to be hid and two, she had to help him even if she knew she would most certainly regret it.  
  
She went to speak but one of the big and burly men was already approaching her. "Where is he? _Donde este?"_  
  
"Uh ... No hable Espanola," Charity said lamely and darted a brief look behind her to see that the young man had escaped for the moment, although there was really nowhere in here he could hide.  
  
The big, burly man reached out then and shook her rather violently. "Tell me the truth."  
  
"I am!"  
  
"We'll just look for him then ourselves," he said and flung her aside.  
  
Charity shook her head when she caught her balance. "No, no, you can't go any further. This is a convent; there are innocent ladies present ..."  
  
"Ah. Then this is just the kind of place the scoundrel would love," another one of the men said, this one also with a Spanish accent.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Gwen carried Royce through the busy streets of New Mexico, listening to her fellow travelers' footfalls on the dirt road and the sound of many accented voices filtering through the air. Royce rested on her shoulder, cooing softly to himself like the sweet little baby he was.  
  
Gwen was still smiling as she crossed a side-street and walked down an alley towards her condo two blocks away. This was a short-cut and while it was not in the nicest part of town, it was also not in the worst.   
  
She was walking past a little apartment building when a door suddenly opened and a boy of about seven with dark skin and mocha eyes emerged. She offered him a smile, deciding he looked a bit familiar, though she couldn't immediately place him.  
  
She was moving on though when she heard a familiar voice say, _"Miles, are you ready to go?_ "  
  
"Ohmigod ..." she murmured and turned around, sure enough finding herself staring at none other than Whitney Russell.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Charity followed the three men helplessly through the chapel and then through the convent. The many nuns there shrunk in horror and shock at the sight of the three men but held their ground even as they whispered nervously amongst themselves. Finally, when the men had searched all over, seemingly in every nook and cranny of the old building and surrounding area, they seemed satisfied that their prey was long gone.  
  
"See?" Charity said bravely. "No one here but us nuns."  
  
"He was here. We saw him come in," one of the burly men said. "If you see him again, you tell him to show his pathetic self to us. If we find him first, he's not going to like what happens to him."  
  
Charity said nothing as she and her novices watched the men leave. Once she was satisfied that they were really gone, she walked over to a group of nuns and grabbed one by the arm who had their nose dug deep into a prayer book.   
  
"You're coming with me, Sister," she said.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Whitney looked outright horrified to see Gwen. "Uh, hey, uh, Gwen ..." She positioned her son tightly against her side like she expected Gwen to kidnap him at any moment.  
  
Miles looked up at his mother. "Mom, who is that? How does she know your real name?"  
  
"Your 'real' name?" Gwen couldn't help but echo.  
  
Whitney blushed noticeably. "She's an old ... Someone I used to know from a long time ago."  
  
Gwen didn't understand why Whitney was acting so jumpy. Sure, she and Gwen had not gotten along most of the time because of the woman whose name shall never be mentioned, but Whitney looked downright afraid to be around Gwen or at least to be recognized by her.  
  
"Whitney, are you okay?" Gwen asked, shifting her son to her other arm.  
  
Whitney nodded too quickly. "Of course I am okay. Why wouldn't I be? My son and I are just in a bit of a hurry. It was nice seeing you ..."  
  
Whitney was then grabbing Miles lightly by the arm and hurrying off down the crowded street with him.   
  
Gwen shook her head and looked at Royce. "Weird. Just weird."  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Charity ushered the person with her to the front door of the chapel and started to push them outside.  
  
"Hey, hey, Oh Sister Superior One," a distinctly male voice said. "You can't just throw me out. What if the three amigos are out there just waiting for me?"  
  
Charity sighed. "I am sorry, but I can't help you any further. You already stole a habit from one of our sisters - I don't even want to know how you managed that - and you put all of us in danger. You have to go."  
  
"Sanctuary, sanctuary," the young man chanted.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"I've seen it the movies. I know what that word means. It means I can stay here until I'm good and ready to leave."   
  
He smirked then. "And why would I leave when there are dozens of beautiful, young, not to mention virginal women-"  
  
Charity made the sign of the cross and murmured a prayer. "God save us from this natural man..."  
  
He smirked even more. "That's right. A hundred and ten percent natural man no matter that I am wearing a nun's getup right now. Still I will be out of clothes in no time though, trust me ..."  
  
Charity had never met anyone quite like this guy. He was terribly unholy in every way, the kind of person the monsieur taught her and the other nuns to shun like the plague.   
  
"You are disgusting, really disgusting," she said. "You also need to go before I go find those men myself and sic them on you!"  
  
He laughed. "How Christian of you, Sister."  
  
Charity sighed. "I don't know what game you're playing here but you really need to go. We cannot and will not house you here under any circumstances so just go already." She felt incredibly annoyed and no longer felt the slightest bit solicitous, let alone _charitable._  
  
"Okay, okay under one condition."  
  
"I don't have to deal with this. Your time for sanctuary has passed," Charity said and gave him a forceful shove outdoors. She started to close the door in his face but he jammed an Italian-loafer in the door. He was positively exasperating!  
  
"Just let me use your phone to call for a ride. You do have a phone in this provincial place, don't you?"  
  
Charity rolled her eyes. "Yes we have a phone and no, you can't use it ..."  
  
"Come on! Let me make one phone call and I'll be out of your hair forever. As God as my witness ..."  
  
Charity grimaced. "Don't take the Lord's name in vain."  
  
"Your habit is entirely too tight, sister," the young man said, causing her to blush.   
  
"Now may I use your phone?"  
  
"Fine, fine, but be quick about it," Charity said and let him back inside. She led the way inside the chapel to her little office and handed him the phone.  
  
She feigned tidying up the already spotless office as she watched him under her lashes; sure he was going to try something underhanded as he appeared to be nothing less than a complete and total heathen.  
  
He picked up the phone and started to dial. There was a pause and then he spoke. "Hello ... Long time no chat, huh? It's Jeremy. I'm in a bit of a spot and I need your help ..."


	3. Episode 3

**Episode 3**  
  
Jeremy offered Charity a wink as he caught her watching him coyly under her long eyelashes. She blushed bright red and he grinned at her before she turned away. He leaned back on the neat desk and listened to all of the reasons the person on the other end of the line couldn't come over to get him. He just nodded and smirked.   
  
"Alright, I heard you but you listen to me now," he said commandingly. "If you really don't want to come and help your own half-brother out of a tight spot, then I'll just call your dad and ask _him_ to help me. I wonder how the old guy will take the shock ... Yeah I thought that would change your mind, sister dearest. Go ahead and come pick me up. Bring nun-chucks just in case -" he winked at Charity again and she looked away quickly once again -"and oh, maybe a baseball bat in case we need to break some kneecaps to get out of here ... Of course I'm serious. Would I make this up? ... Whatever ... Now as for my location... I am in some convent on the east side of Villa de Camino. What's the name ..." He looked at Charity again. "What's the name?"  
  
She sighed. "St. Ignatius of the Good-"  
  
He waved his hand. "St. Ingo or St. Iguana or something... Good luck finding it, sister dearest. I look forward to seeing ... my nephew," he added with a wide smile. Then he hung up the phone and turned to face Charity. "So, Sister, what do you say you tell me your name? And not your holy name. The name you used before you donned that getup," he waved his hand towards her habit. "Which reminds me, I have to shed this costume before people start asking questions."  
  
Before Charity could stop him, he was yanking the habit and veil off his head and chucking it aside. Charity briefly spotted the taut muscles of his stomach as his tee-shirt rode up and quickly averted her eyes. She was too stunned at this young man's audacity to steal a habit and then basically undress in front of her.   
  
The guy who called himself Jeremy grinned lasciviously at her, running his hand down his taut chest. "See something you like, Sister Dear?"  
  
"You unholy ..."  
  
"What? Say it. Come on. Don't cloister your feelings, Sister," Jeremy said. "It's not healthy."  
  
"You unholy ... _Jerk!"_ Charity finally snapped out.  
  
Jeremy threw back his head and laughed loudly. "Seriously? Jerk? That's the best you can come up with? How long has this church been sucking the life out of a could-be-hot-if-you-loosened-your-veil-once-in-awhile girl like yourself?"  
  
Charity threw back the door to her office and started to stomp out. "Hey, where are you going? You don't walk out on your company. It's not very kind or saintly, sister."  
  
Charity shot him a disdainful look. "I am going to find those men who were looking for you and deliver you right into their hands."  
  
Jeremy laughed. "You wouldn't do that. You're too saintly. They would kill me and a holy woman like yourself - well you wouldn't condone murder... Hey, where are you really going?" He sighed and jogged after her. "Come on. Talk to me. You and I were getting along back there."  
  
Charity scoffed. "Is that what you really think?" She asked. "All you have done is defile this holy church, make petty 'nun jokes', disgrace -"  
  
"I was joking," Jeremy said, hurrying to catch up with her. "You don't want me murdered, do you?"  
  
"I can't stop it. Besides, you must have done something to incite those men to violence -"  
  
Jeremy smirked again. "Oh really, Sister? You still prescribe to the theory of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, huh? And anyway, how do you know I actually did anything to them?"  
  
Charity whipped around and poked him in the chest. "Call me crazy but I can tell you're the kind of person who gets himself into all sorts of trouble because he can't contain his bodily appetites."  
  
"What about your bodily appetites?" Jeremy asked, reaching out and taking the finger pressed into the center of his chest and closing his hand around her own smaller one. "Don't tell me you don't yearn for so much more; that you don't wonder what it would be like to actually live. Have fun. Do things like have a man put his hand between your -"  
  
Charity ripped her hand free of his and covered her ears. "I cannot hear this, you sinful, odious man."  
  
Jeremy laughed. "I am growing on you."  
  
"Yeah, like a fungus," Charity retorted.  
  
Jeremy smirked. "Was that an actual joke? So you do have a fun side, huh? You just need the right guy to drag it out of you. I bet you can be naughty, so, so naughty ..."  
  
Charity stomped ahead of him and went back into the chapel, ripping the double doors open. "Oh, Satan! Come and get your minion," she shouted loudly.  
  
Jeremy just laughed.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Whitney dropped Miles off at his new school despite his protests. She had to blink back tears as she heard his pleas for her not to leave him there reverberating in her ears. Her heart went out to him. She knew it wasn't fair that they moved around all of the time and that he had to keep starting over in a brand new school with brand new kids he didn't know and who didn't know him. But still, he needed schooling and she couldn't provide it right now because she needed to find a job so they could afford the basics of life like rent on their new apartment and actually be able to buy food too. Whitney had made some bad decisions and sadly they were costing the person she loved most in the world, her beloved son.   
  
She had considered calling her mom so many times and asking for protection only the Cranes could provide or just some money to get by on but she didn't believe that was wise either.  
  
She sighed as she crossed the street and started down a side alley back towards her apartment three blocks away. She was going to peruse the help wanted ads in the local newspaper.  
  
She was halfway back to her apartment when she suddenly felt someone's watchful eyes on her and she slowly allowed a glance backwards over her shoulder. Sure enough, she was being followed.  
  
A big man with a clearly visible sunburn on his face and bald head that gave him an almost satanic look was close at her heels. Whitney started to pick up her pace, noting that there was no one else around to help her. She heard the man behind her pick up the pace as well and she knew she was in deep trouble.  
  
So she started running. Running as fast as she could...  
  
She eventually barreled into someone coming out of one of the buildings. She hit the ground and landed on her ass. Hard. She yelped involuntarily and looked back over her shoulder. The man with the sunburn was gone.  
  
"Are you okay?" A male voice asked. It sounded so familiar she couldn't help but turn her head and look up at the person peering back at her.  
  
Her voice - as well as her breath - caught in her throat as she looked into the familiar dark brown eyes, noted the lanky build, and the chiseled facial features all topped off by spiky blonde hair.   
  
"Ohmigod ... _Fox?"_


End file.
